1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer storage, and more particularly to computer storage systems and methods that are independent of microprocessor architecture, microprocessor type, transport hardware or I/O device controller type that comprise an independent storage node.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, more and more reliance is being placed on computers to create, edit, modify, and store important documents. With this reliance, comes the need for increased versatility in the ability to store and retrieve data. There are several techniques available today for facilitating computer storage, and as will be seen, more versatility in computer information storage is needed.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing a conventional local storage system 100. The local storage system 100 includes a user computer 102 and a storage device 112 coupled to the user computer 102 via a peripheral interconnect 114. The user computer 102 has executed thereon an application 104, an operating system (O/S) having a local file system 106, a driver 108 for an input/output (I/O) device 110 that controls the storage device(s) 112.
To store and retrieve data for the storage device 112, the application 104 typically transmits a request to the local file system 106, which in turn passes the file system request to the device driver 108. The device driver 108 converts the file system request into a block-level I/O request that is then passed from I/O device 110 over the peripheral interconnect 114 to the storage device 112.
The I/O request then completes and the completion result is passed back up through the I/O device 110, driver 108, and local file system 106. The data is either placed into system memory, for a disk READ operation, or placed on the storage device 112 for a disk WRITE command.
To provide increased flexibility the network file system (NFS) has been used to store data remotely from a user computer. FIG. 1B is a block diagram showing a prior art network file system 150. The network file system 150 includes a user computer 102 and a storage computer 130 coupled to the user computer 102 via a network 116. Using the conventional NFS 150 a user can store data on a remote server 130 that is executing the same or a compatible O/S as the user computer 102.
To accomplish remote NFS storage, the user computer 102 includes an application 104, a network file system 120, protocols 122, a network driver 124, and a network interface card (NIC) 126 coupled to the network 116 via transport 128. The storage computer 130 includes a corresponding NIC 126, network driver 124, protocols 122, and file system 120. In addition, the server 130 includes a device driver 108, and an I/O device 110 coupled to a storage device 112 via a peripheral interconnect 114.
In the conventional NFS 150, the network file system 120 replaces the local file system 106 of FIG. 1A, and is typically layered on TCP/IP or UDP/IP protocols 112. To store and retrieve data using NFS 150, the application 104 typically transmits a file system request to the network file system 120, through the protocol stacks 122 to the network driver 124. The network driver 124 then transmits the request from the NIC 126 of the user computer 102 to the NIC 126 of the storage computer 130 via the network 116 and transport connections 128.
When received by the NIC 126 on the storage computer 130, the request is passed through the network driver 124 and protocol stacks to the file system 120, which in turn passes the file system request to the device driver 108 of the storage computer 130. The device driver 108 then converts the file system request into a block-level I/O request that is passed from I/O device 110 to the storage device 112 via the peripheral interconnect 114.
When the I/O request completes, the result is passed back up through the I/O software layers of both the storage computer 130 and the user computer 102 using the network 116. The data is then either placed into the memory of the user computer for a READ operation, or placed on the storage device 112 for a WRITE command.
A problem with the conventional network file system 150 is that generally both the user computer 102 and the storage computer 130 need to execute the same O/S and file system 120. Thus, if the user computer 102 is executing on WINDOWS NT, the storage computer 130 also needs to execute WINDOWS NT for the network file storage system 150 to operate properly.
Thus, if the storage computer 130 is used with a plurality of user computers 102, all the user computers 102 generally must execute the same O/S and file system 120 as is executed on the storage computer 130. However, it is not always desirable to use a particular O/S for a particular application. Hence, different users often operate under different O/S's, and therefore may not be able to share the storage system 150 of a remote computer in this way.
Moreover, in both the convention local storage system 100 and NFS 150, the software controlling the storage aspects of the systems generally must be specifically written to support the specific hardware comprising the system, including the microprocessor architecture, which includes the endian-ness, internal design, and internal bit architecture of the processor. This limitation causes problems when hardware within a conventional storage system is changed, since the original software may no longer execute properly on the system. Thus, whenever new devices, processors, or other system hardware is changed, the system software of a conventional local storage system 100 or NFS 150 generally must be completely rewritten to function with the new system hardware.
In view of the forgoing, there is a need for a storage system that is capable of operation independent of the operating systems' limitations and which allows the storage not to be hosted by another computer system. The storage system should be capable of storing data remotely and capable of operating independently of any particular consumer computers' O/S. Further, the storage system should be capable of operating with reduced user configuration or networking knowledge, such that the user generally does not need to learn how to use a configure complex networked file and storage systems. In order to provide this functionality, storage nodes should be configurable to support many differing transport drivers, transport protocols, I/O device drivers and varying hardware configurations.